Latina Entrepreneur LuLu Gets Her Just Desserts
LuLu Got An Unexpected Lift
LuLus got an unexpected lift in 1993, when Jell-O introduced its first ready-to eat gelatin snacks. At first, Ms. Sobrino was terrified that Kraft, which owns the Jell-O brand, would bury her company. Instead, the food conglomerates massive marketing campaign educated the public about the category, ultimately expanding the market for LuLus products.
Having stabilized her company in the mid-1990s, Ms. Sobrino began planning a state-of-the-art plant in Orange County, California, investing $700,000 in land and designs. There were opportunities in other states as well, including Texas, which offered free land. Eventually, she opted for the shuttered Baskin-Robbins factory in Vernon, which offered all the production, refrigeration, and laboratory space she could possibly need.
Needless to say, Ms. Sobrino has come by a wealth of entrepreneurial insight during LuLus often-perilous journey from upstart to acknowledged industry leader.
One of the most important things for me to learn was how to delegate and how to put together a management team, she now says. As an entrepreneur youre used to doing everything yourself.
In fact, Ms. Sobrino hired her first president only two years ago. The firm employs a total workforce of about 100.
Access to capital was also a big challenge, she says. I know today that if Id had access to more capital I would have grown faster.
Ms. Sobrino has learned a great deal about her own marketability as well. LuLus spends nothing on television and radio advertising, and its marketing efforts are generally limited to in-store promotions and distributing free samples at community events.
The company does have Ms. Sobrino herself, however, and shes a proven public relations commodity. The die was cast with a local newspaper profile of LuLus and its founder in 1998. That article soon begat others, which led to an Avon Women of Enterprise Award, which in turn led to national exposure in magazines and on television as a Latina entrepreneur on the rise.
The publicity train shows no signs of slowing, either. Ms. Sobrino is among the featured subjects in Enterprising Women, a touring exhibit in Los Angeles Public Library and the Detroit Historical Museum in 2005. Other featured women included Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and Elizabeth Arden.
And, of course, Ms. Sobrino still enjoys serving as a motherly figure to a new generation of entrepreneurs. Shes currently penning a book with Sharon Freeman, which the pair plans to self-publish this summer. Tentatively titled Maria de Lourdes Sobrino: Conversations with Enterprising Hispanic Women, it will recount her own experiences as well as those of 10 other successful Latinas.
If all this seems as though it would be a tad overwhelming, Ms. Sobrino is the first to agree.
Its amazing how weve developed a brand just through reaching out to the Hispanic community, she says. When I first came here, my goal was to make the most of the opportunities this country has to offer.But I very much never envisioned this level of success. I thought I was going to fail. I mean, I had to learn the business as I went along. I knew nothing about food processing. Its incredible when I really think about everything thats happened to me. Visit LuLu’s website
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